Praxis (process)

For other uses, see Praxis (disambiguation).

Praxis is the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, embodied, or realised. "Praxis" may also refer to the act of engaging, applying, exercising, realizing, or practising ideas. This has been a recurrent topic in the field of philosophy, discussed in the writings of Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Immanuel Kant, Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Paulo Freire, Ludwig von Mises, and many others. It has meaning in the political, educational, and spiritual realms.

“ So, I tried to do a kind of semantic clarification in which praxis — if not on the thither side of this divide—was perhaps somehow between the theoretical and the practical as they are generally understood, and particularly as they are understood in modern philosophy. Praxis as the manner in which we are engaged in the world and with others has its own insight or understanding prior to any explicit formulation of that understanding...Of course, it must be understood that praxis, as I understand it, is always entwined with communication. ” — Calvin O. Schrag

Origins

In Ancient Greek the word praxis (πρᾶξις) referred to activity engaged in by free men. The philosopher Aristotle held that there were three basic activities of man: theoria (thinking), poiesis (making), and praxis (doing). Corresponding to these activities were three types of knowledge: theoretical, the end goal being truth; poietical, the end goal being production; and practical, the end goal being action. Aristotle further divided the knowledge derived from praxis into ethics, economics and politics. He also distinguished between eupraxia (εὐπραξία, "good praxis") and dyspraxia (δυσπραξία, "bad praxis, misfortune").

Marxism

The 19th century socialist Antonio Labriola called Marxism the "philosophy of praxis". This description of Marxism would appear again in Antonio Gramsci's Prison Notebooks and the writings of the members of the Frankfurt School.

Hannah Arendt

In The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt argues that Western philosophy too often has focused on the contemplative life (vita contemplativa) and has neglected the active life (vita activa). This has led humanity to frequently miss much of the everyday relevance of philosophical ideas to real life. For Arendt, praxis is the highest and most important level of the active life. Thus, she argues that more philosophers need to engage in everyday political action or praxis, which she sees as the true realization of human freedom. According to Arendt, our capacity to analyze ideas, wrestle with them, and engage in active praxis is what makes us uniquely human.

In Maurizio Passerin d'Etreves's estimation, "Arendt's theory of action and her revival of the ancient notion of praxis represent one of the most original contributions to twentieth century political thought. ... Moreover, by viewing action as a mode of human togetherness, Arendt is able to develop a conception of participatory democracy which stands in direct contrast to the bureaucratized and elitist forms of politics so characteristic of the modern epoch."

Education

Praxis is used by educators to describe a recurring passage through a cyclical process of experiential learning, such as the cycle described and popularised by David A. Kolb.

Paulo Freire defines praxis in Pedagogy of the Oppressed as "reflection and action directed at the structures to be transformed." Through praxis, oppressed people can acquire a critical awareness of their own condition, and, with their allies, struggle for liberation. Schools of community education or free schools loosely based in anarchism or other anti-elitist philosophies and perspectives often rely heavily on praxis, particularly as influenced by Freire.

In the Channel 4 television documentary "New Order: Play At Home", Factory Records owner Tony Wilson describes praxis as "doing something, and then only afterwards, finding out why you did it".

Praxis may be described as a form of critical thinking and comprises the combination of reflection and action. Praxis can be viewed as a progression of cognitive and physical actions:

• Taking the action
• Considering the impacts of the action
• Analysing the results of the action by reflecting upon it
• Altering and revising conceptions and planning following reflection
• Implementing these plans in further actions

This creates a cycle which can be viewed in terms of educational settings, learners and educational facilitators.

Scott and Marshall (2009) refer to praxis as “a philosophical term referring to human action on the natural and social world”. Furthermore, Gramsci (1999) emphasises the power of praxis in Selections from the Prison Notebooks by stating that “The philosophy of praxis does not tend to leave the simple in their primitive philosophy of common sense but rather to lead them to a higher conception of life”. To reveal the inadequacies of religion, folklore, intellectualism and other such ‘one-sided’ forms of reasoning, Gramsci appeals directly in his later work to Marx’s ‘philosophy of praxis’, describing it as a ‘concrete’ mode of reasoning. This principally involves the juxtaposition of a dialectical and scientific audit of reality; against all existing normative, ideological, and therefore counterfeit accounts. Essentially a ‘philosophy’ based on ‘a practise’, Marx’s philosophy, is described correspondingly in this manner, as the only ‘philosophy’ that is at the same time a ‘history in action’ or a ‘life’ itself (Gramsci, Hoare and Nowell-Smith, 1972, p. 332).

Spirituality

See also: Praxis (Eastern Orthodoxy)

Praxis is also key in meditation and spirituality, where emphasis is placed on gaining first-hand experience of concepts and certain areas, such as union with the Divine, which can only be explored through praxis due to the inability of the finite mind (and its tool, language) to comprehend or express the infinite. In an interview for YES! Magazine, Matthew Fox explained it this way:

Wisdom is always taste—in both Latin and Hebrew, the word for wisdom comes from the word for taste—so it's something to taste, not something to theorize about. "Taste and see that God is good," the psalm says; and that's wisdom: tasting life. No one can do it for us. The mystical tradition is very much a Sophia tradition. It is about tasting and trusting experience, before institution or dogma.

According to Strong's Hebrew dictionary, the Hebrew word, ta‛am, is; properly a taste, that is, (figuratively) perception; by implication intelligence; transitively a mandate: advice, behaviour, decree, discretion, judgment, reason, taste, understanding.

See also

• Christian theological praxis
• Lex artis
• Praxis Discussion Series
• Praxis intervention
• Praxis school
• Praxeology
• Practice (social theory)
• Orthopraxy

Further reading

• Paulo Freire (1970), Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Continuum International Publishing Group.

External links

• The dictionary definition of praxis at Wiktionary
• Entry for "praxis" at the Encyclopaedia of Informal Education
• Der Begriff Praxis